Tom Reginald Waters was born in Goldcliff, Monmouthshire, in 1899. The second of seven children, his parents were Claridge and Alice Waters. Claridge was a farmer-turned-school attendance officer, and, according to the 1901 census, the family lived on Chapel Road, next door to the Temperance Hotel.
Tom – who was better known by his middle name – was too young to enlist when war broke out, but he was keen to play his part. He had joined up by the summer of 1916, and, as a Private, was attached to the 11th (Service) Battalion of the South Wales Borderers, also know 2nd Gwents.
Little information is available about Reginald’s time in the army, and there is no evidence that he spent any time overseas. By the start of 1916, he was based in Brecon, Powys, and it was in the camp there that he became unwell.
Private Waters had contracted meningitis, and this was to prove fatal. He passed away on the 20th January 1917, at the age of just 18 years old.
The body of Tom Reginald Waters was taken back to Monmouthshire for burial, and he was laid to rest in the tranquil graveyard of St Mary’s Church in Nash, not far from where his family still lived.
Benjamin Frederick Danks was born in November 1896, and was the third of ten children to Henry and Elizabeth. Henry was a labourer for the telegraph department, and at the time of his son’s birth, the family were living at Gwent Cottage, Caerleon, Monmouthshire.
By the time of the 1911 census Henry had changed jobs, and was working as a tin plate maker for a furnace company. The family has also moved location, and were living in the six-roomed Cromwell Cottage. There were eleven people in the house: Henry, Elizabeth, the children and Henry’s widowed mother, Sarah.
When war broke out, Benjamin was keen to play his part. Full details of his military service have been lost to time, but it is clear that he joined the Royal Field Artillery as a Gunner.
At some point, Gunner Danks contracted tuberculosis. It is unclear whether he came down with the condition while he served, and he was dismissed from the army as a result, or whether he had returned home only then to come down with it. Either way, the condition would prove fatal: he died at home on 28th March 1919, at the age of 22 years of age.
The body of Benjamin Frederick Danks was laid to rest in the tranquil graveyard of Holy Trinity Church, in Christchurch, near Newport, Monmouthshire, where his grieving family were by then living.
Reginald Herbert William Hardy was born in Heatley, Cheshire, on the 16th December 1888. The second of six children, he was the only son to John and Emma Hardy. John was a storekeeper in a factory, and the family moved with his work: Reginald’s younger siblings were born as far apart as Grappenhall, Runcorn and Leicester.
By 1901, the family had settled in Cardiff, and were living at 53 Pentrebane Street. John’s job had changed, and he was vaguely recorded as a contractor agent.
When he completed his schooling, Reginald took work as a goods clerk for Great Western Railways. In the summer of 1908 he married local woman Annie Harvey. The couple set up home at 78 Clive Street, just around the corner from his parents, and went on to have two children, daughters Vera and Lilian.
When war broke out, Reginald stepped up to play his part. Full details of his service have been lost, but it is clear that he gained a commission in the Welch Regiment, and, by the autumn of 1915, he was in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Deaths
HARDY. – November 4th, at Bangor Military Hospital, Lieutenant RHW Hardy, 3rd Welsh Regiment, of pneumonia, beloved husband of Annie (née Harvey). 11 Pentre-gardens, Cardiff. To be interred at Caldicot
HARDY. – November 4th, at the Military Hospital, Bangor, North Wales, Lieutenant Reginald HW Hardy, 3 Battalion Welsh Regiment, late Salonika Army (of pneumonia), beloved only son of Mr and Med JW Hardy, Swansea. Funeral at Caldicot, Mon., Saturday next, ex 1.41 train, Severn Tunnel Junction.
[Western Mail: Wednesday 6th November 1918]
Reginald Herbert William Hardy was 29 years of age when he passed. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church, Caldicot, Monmouthshire.
James Vickery was born in the spring of 1859, in the Gloucestershire village of Tidenham. The second of eleven children, his parents were Richard and Ann Vickery. Richard was a quarry worker, and continued in this role into his 60s. It was a job than many of his sons, including James, would go into as well.
James sought a bigger and better life for himself, however, and enlisted in the army. His military records have been lost to time, sadly, but he was absent from the 1881 census, and his marriage certificate gives his profession as soldier. James married Lucy Brown on 25th December 1884, the couple exchanging vows in St Mary and St Peter’s Church in their home village.
By the time of the 1891 census, James had stepped back from army life, and returned to the quarries. He and Lucy had three children by this point, and were living at 4 Pen Moel Terrace in Tidenham.
Lucy died in 1898, and her and James’ children were looked after by her parents, while James was working. They lived in the same row of cottages, and, in fact, were just two doors down, according to the 1901 census. James would find love again, marrying Margaret Roberts in April of that year. The couple would have two children of their own, bringing the extended family to nine siblings.
The 1911 census recorded James and Margaret, who was thirteen years younger than her husband, living at Yew Tree Cottage in their home village. James was still employed as a quarryman, but war was on the horizon, and, being the old soldier that he was, he wanted to serve his country again.
Given his age at the time, James was not required to join up, but he did so anyway, enlisting on 28th July 1915. He was assigned to the Royal Defence Corps – a territorial regiment that had a focus on older recruits -and was attached to the 301st Protection Company.
There is little information about Private Vickery’s time in the army. His unit formed part of the Western Command, and so he would have served close to home, if he had to leave home at all. By this point, his ageing body was starting to rebel. Over the winter of 1916 rheumatism had set in, and this would lead to his ultimate discharge from the service. He was stood down on 28th March 1919, and returned to civilian life.
At this point, James’ trail goes cold. He returned home, but it is unclear whether he was well enough to return to the quarry. Ultimately, time took its toll, and James passed away on 6th February 1920: he was 60 years of age.
The body of James Vickery was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Luke’s Church, Tutshill, not far from where Margaret was now living.
The war had already brought tragedy to the Vickery family. James and Edith’s son George had been born in the summer of 1895 and, when war broke out, he enlisted in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
Attached to the 9th (Service) Battalion, Private Vickery quickly found himself on the Western Front. He was injured during the Battles of the Lys in 1918, and died of his wounds in the 64th West Lancashire Field Ambulance on 29th April. He was 22 years of age.
The body of George Vickery was laid to rest in Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery, Ypres.
Harold Jonathan Beer was born in Axmouth, Devon, on 7th April 1892. One of nine children, he was the third of three boys to Brian and Edna Beer. Brian was a railway porter, but when he died in the spring of 1894, Edna was left to raise her young family alone. She was pregnant when she was widowed, giving birth to her youngest, daughter Constance, in September 1894.
When he completed his schooling, Harold found work as a domestic groom. The 1911 census found him living with his mother and three siblings: four of the five of them were bringing in a wage, albeit a small one.
War broke out in the summer of 1914, and Harold would step up to play his part. He have up his then job as an insurance agent in November 1915, and enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment. As a Private, he was attached to the local depot; his service records showing he was 5ft 9ins (1.75m) tall, and weighed 136lbs (61.7kg). His medical reported that he was wearing a truss, but that there was no evidence of a hernia.
Private Beer was mobilised in February 1916, but by the end of the year, he had transferred to the Royal Horse Artillery, taking the rank of Gunner. Sent for training near Portland, Dorset, he fell ill, and was admitted to the Verne Military Hospital, suffering from pleurisy.
Harold only spent a week in hospital before being discharged. He continued to have a ‘winter cough’, however, and was sent to Tidworth Hospital in January 1917, having had a ‘perpetual pain in the left side’ for about a month. This was diagnosed as tuberculosis, and the contagious illness resulted in Private Beer’s discharge from the army on 14th March 1917.
At this point, Harold’s trail goes cold. It seems likely that he returned home, and that his health continued to be impacted. He passed away on 8th April 1919, the day after his 27th birthday.
The body of Harold Jonathan Beer was laid to rest in St Michael’s Church, in his home village of Axmouth.
John Love was born on 22nd November 1881 in the Devon village of Axmouth. The third of ten children, his parents were Samuel and Alice Love. Samuel was an agricultural labourer, and, on completing his schooling, his son initially followed the same path.
John sought out a longer term career for himself, however, and, on 4th March 1897, he joined the Royal Navy. Sent to HMS Boscawen, the training base in Portland, Dorset, he was too young to formally enlist, and so was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class.
Young John seemed to learn the tools of his trade quickly, as he was promoted to Boy 1st Class after just nine months. In February 1898, he was given his first sea-going assignment, on board the frigate HMS Minotaur and, over the next eighteen months, he went on to serve on board two further vessels: the cruiser HMS Melampus, and the screw sloop HMS Melita.
It was while he was attached to Melita that John came of age. Now formally inducted into the Royal Navy, he was given the rank of Ordinary Seaman. His service records show that he was 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall, and had light hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.
Again, it seems that John impressed his superiors as, in August 1900, he was promoted to Able Seaman. Having signed up for a period of twelve years, he went on to serve on board seven further ships, and had three stints at HMS Defiance, the torpedo training school in Devonport. The town’s dockyard, HMS Vivid, became a home-from-home, and was the base to which Able Seaman Love returned in between sea voyages.
John received a further promotion in October 1910, and, when the now Leading Seaman Love’s initial contract came to an end a year later, he re-enlisted without any hesitation.
According to his annual reviews, Leading Seaman Love regularly showed a very good character, but his ability slowly began to fall, from superior in 1911, to satisfactory in 1912-1914, and moderate from 1915 onwards. His service papers do not given any evidence to support this drop, but it may back up his regular stints at HMS Defiance. What may have been initial promise seems not to have born fruit as John’s time progressed.
From August 1916, Leading Seaman Love remained landlocked, and he spent the next nine months in Devonport. His records suggest that his health was beginning to suffer and, on 23rd May 1917, he was medically discharged from the navy. The reason for his discharge was recorded as sunstroke, but it seems likely that there were additional health conditions relating to his return to civilian life.
At this point, John’s trail goes cold. It seems likely that he returned home as, on 15th January 1919, he passed away in the St Thomas’ registration district, which covered the area around Exmouth.
John Love was 37 years of age when he passed away. His body was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Michael’s Church, Axmouth, not far from where his family were still living.
William Arthur Haymes was born in the spring of 1895 in the Devon village of Beer. The oldest of six children, his parents were coastguard Arthur Haymes and his wife, Ellen.
Arthur’s work moved the family around the coast: the 1901 census found the family living on Magazine Lane in Marchwood, Hampshire. By the time of the next census, though, they have moved back to the more tranquil setting of Devon, and were living at the Coastguard Station in Seaton. William had left school, and was employed as an errand boy for a local wine and spirit merchant.
Ellen died in 1915, and Arthur was left to raise the family on his own. With war raging across Europe by this point, it is likely that William had joined up. Sadly, his service records have been lost to time, but it is clear that he joined the Devonshire Regiment, and was assigned to the 8th (Service) Battalion.
Private Haymes’ unit moved to France in the summer of 1915 and, over the next few years, fought at Loos, the Somme and Passchendaele. It’s not possible to track William’s progress during this time, but it is clear that he was well thought of: by the end of the war, he had risen to the rank of Serjeant.
By the spring of 1919, Serjeant Haymes was waiting to be demobbed. The conflict had impacted his health, however, and he was medically discharged on 14th March, suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. He returned home, but the condition would result in a slow and painful declined. William passed away on 27th April 1920, at the age of 25 years old.
The body of William Arthur Haymes was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Michael’s Church, Axmouth.
Arthur had remarried at the start of 1919: the 1921 census found him living with his wife, Cora, and an extended family that included his youngest two sons, and his four stepchildren. Now employed as caretaker for the Seaton Town Social Club, the family were recorded at 5 The Avenue, Seaton.
Jesse Herbert Lester was born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, in 1873. The second of six children, his parents were John and Annie. At the time of his son’s birth, John was a labourer in an iron foundry, and the family lived at 6 Havelock Street, to the south of the town centre.
By the time of the 1891 census, the family had grown, and moved to the next road – 90 Mortimer Street. John had changed trades, and was employed as a wool dyer, with Annie, and their two eldest children also working in the cloth industry. Jesse, now 18 years old, was earning money as a cloth presser.
In 1892, Jesse too the plunge and joined the army. He had already been volunteering for the 1st Wiltshire Rifles, and took the opportunity to see the world by enlisting in the Royal Artillery. His service papers show that he was 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall, and weighed 123lbs (55.8kg). His medical notes recorded brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion. They also identified a scar on the underside of his left forearm.
As a Driver, Jesse enlisted for a period of twelve years. During this time he saw the world, serving more than four years in India, and three in South Africa. His papers note two occasions where he forfeited a day’s pay, although his misdemeanours have been lost to time.
On 26th May 1904, having been back on home soil for eighteen months, Driver Lester’s contract came to an end, and he chose to return to civilian life.
Like so many of his peers at the time, Jesse moved to South Wales for work. On 28th March 1903, he returned home to marry, but gave his address as Nant-y-Moel, Mid Glamorgan. His new wife was Eliza Clark, and the couple married in their parish church in Trowbridge.
Nant-y-Moel was where the newlyweds relocated to, Jesse’s job as a miner obviously paying him more than any equivalent role back home. The couple moved in to 43 Brynogwy Terrace, and had two children, William and Edith.
When war broke out, Jesse was quick to enlist, joining the Royal Field Artillery on 1st October 1914. Attached to the 3rd Glamorgan Battery, Driver Lester spent the first year of his service on home soil, gaining a promotion to Bombardier in the process.
In November 1915, the unit moved to France. During their short spell there, “For drunkenness and neglect of duty”, Jesse was demoted to Driver once more.
On 5th February 1916, Jesse’s unit left Marseilles, bound for Egypt. They arrived in Alexandria five days later, and Driver Lester would spend the next ten months there. In October he was admitted to hospital with heart disease. The condition warranted a return to Britain, and ultimately led to his discharge from duty, with a Silver War Badge. Jesse returned to civilian life once again on 22nd December 1916.
At this point, Jesse’s trail goes cold. He passed away on 28th November 1918, at the age of 45.
It seems likely that, in his absence overseas, Eliza and the children returned to Wiltshire. She buried her husband in Trowbridge Cemetery, a short walk from where she was living, at 2 Havelock Street.
William Bailey was born on 3rd May 1878, and was the oldest of five children. His father, Robert, was a cloth worker from Devizes, Wiltshire, but it was in the nearby garrison town of Trowbridge that he and his wife, Matilda, raised their children. The 1881, 1891 and 1901 census records all give the family’s address as 12 New Road, to the south of the town centre.
The 1901 census reveals some interesting information. By this point, Matilda records herself as widowed, and is financially supported by William, who is employed as a mattress maker, and two of his siblings. However, the same census states that Robert is, in fact, living and working in Llanwono, Mid Glamorgan, with another of their children, Frank. Father and son are both labouring in one of the local coal mines, Robert recording his status as married.
At this point, Matilda’ and William’s trail goes cold. The next census, taken in 1911, finds Robert still living in Llanwono, boarding with his brother in a fellow colliery work’s house on Rock Street. His records himself as ‘married, wife away’.
On 21st January 1915, William married Rose Hayward in their home town. War was raging across Europe by this point, and on 5th July 1916, he gave up his then job as a carpenter, to join the 2nd/7th Cyclist Regiment. Sadly, there is little information about his time in the army, although he rose to the rank of Corporal. Nine months after enlisting, however, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps.
Initially taking the role or Air Mechanic 2nd Class, his service papers show that he was just 5ft 4.5ins (1.64m) tall. By the summer of 1918, William had been moved across to the Royal Air Force, and promoted to Air Mechanic 1st Class. Attached to the 90th Squadron, then the 51st, he was based out of Waddington Airfield in Lincolnshire.
In the autumn of 1918 Air Mechanic Bailey contracted pneumonia, and was admitted to the 4th Northern General Hospital in Lincoln. The condition would prove fatal, and, on 22nd November, he passed away: William was 40 years of age.
The body of William Bailey was laid to rest in Trowbridge Cemetery. His headstone commemorates his army rank.
Thomas Pepler was born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, in December 1885. The third of six children, he was the oldest son to Henry and Rosa. Both of Thomas’ parents were wool spinners, and the family grew up on Holbrook Lane, to the south of the town centre.
When he completed his schooling, Thomas found work in an iron foundry. By the autumn of 1906, he had moved to South Wales, and it was here, in Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan, where he met and married Emma (or Emily) Draper. The couple went on to have four children: Rosina, Thomas, Frances and Phyllis.
By 1911, Thomas had moved the family back to Trowbridge, and had set up home at 10 Sylverthorn’s Yard, off Duke Street, to the east of the town centre. Thomas was the only breadwinner, and is recorded as being a labourer in a trellis works.
War was on the horizon by this point, and Thomas would step up and play his part. On 8th May 1915, he gave up his work (then as a rubber worker) and enlisted as a Private in the Royal Army Medical Corps. While his service papers are incomplete, they do show that he was 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall when he joined up.
Private Pepler spent the next three years supporting medical teams at field ambulances and hospitals in France. Unfortunately, however, he was not to be immune to the illnesses of the patients he was helping. At the start of 1918, he was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment for bronchitis, spending more than four months in hospitals in Norfolk.
As winter came round once more, Thomas was admitted to hospital again. He had contracted influenza, and was given treatment at a hospital in Lincoln. Private Pepler’s body would ultimately succumb this time around, however, and he passed away on 8th November 1918 – just three days before the Armistice. He was 32 years of age.
A heavy bereavement has befallen Mrs Tom Pepler, 20, Dursley Road, and her four little children, in the death of her husband, Pte. Tom Pepler, RAMC, at the age of 32.
Pte. Pepler was… a rubber worker employed at Bradford, and joined the Army in May 1915, and after seeing service in France he was invalided home and did duty at a Red Cross Hospital in Lincolnshire, where his death occurred on Friday from bronchitis.
[Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser: Saturday 16th November 1918]
The body of Thomas Pepler was laid to rest in Trowbridge Cemetery, a short walk from where his family were living.
